Canada: The country is set to resume negotiations for a bilateral FTA with South Korea after the last round of talks five years ago ended in a deadlock. (Yonhap)

Colombia: FM Holguin said the country is not seeking an armed confrontation with Nicaragua following an unfavorable resolution on the two countries’ territorial dispute. (Xinhua)

Cuba: The Revolutionary Armed Forces launched a three day nationwide military exercise expected to be the largest drill in the last four years. (Xinhua)

United States: Senators voted down both a bill to loosen and a bill to tighten restrictions on transferring detainees from Guantanamo. (AP)

ASIA

Afghanistan: The government said it had reached a deal on the framework of a security pact with the US amid conflicting reports of the prerequisite conditions. (Reuters)

Burma: Police arrested three people suspected of planning bomb attacks on mosques. (AFP)

Indonesia: President Yudhoyono said the country is suspending cooperation with Australia on people smuggling following allegations of Australian spying. (AFP)

Korean Peninsula: South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-Jin said North Korea is believed to be capable of producing nuclear weapons from enriched uranium as well as from its existing plutonium stockpile. (AFP)

Pakistan: Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz said the US said it would not carry out drone strikes during peace talks with the Taliban. (Xinhua)

EUROPE

Region: The US hailed the resumption of talks between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. (Xinhua)

Russia: The leader of Makhachkala militants in Dagestan, Murad Kasimov, was killed in a special operation. (Itar-Tass)

Turkey: The parliament is deadlocked over efforts to draw up a new constitution. (AFP)

Turkey: Thirteen PKK members surrendered to security forces in the southeast of the country. (Xinhua)

MIDDLE EAST

Region: The UNHCR said 2,200 Syrian families have fled into Lebanon in the past five days. (AP)

Iraq: A wave of attacks primarily targeting Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad killed at least 28 and wounded more than 70. (AFP)

Israel: A new missile interceptor, being developed in partnership with the US, passed its second live trial. (Reuters)

Yemen: Three police officers and at least three suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in clashes in Hadramawt province. (AFP)

Syria: A spokesman for the OPCW said destroying the country’s stockpile of chemical weapons at sea is a possible alternative to finding a host country. (AP)

TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATIONS

Communications: The World Congress of News Agencies opened in Riyadh under the theme, “Reinventing the news agency in the 21st century.” (AFP)